Microsoft's answer to Google AdWords enters beta August 29
BetaNews | at | by Mike
Customers of Microsoft's AdCenter are being invited to participate in the company's first foray in the field of context-sensitive, text-only advertising - the product that many say established Google's permanent presence in online services.
Displaying its typical flair for draining all the poetry out of the naming process, Microsoft Content Ads enters the beta process one week from tomorrow, with the promise of opening up formerly premium MSN ad inventory to low-cost clients.
Perhaps the company should have called it "Context Ads." Like AdWords, customers pay a flat fee to begin Content Ads (in this case, $5), and then submit bids for keywords that may appear in MSN Web pages.